By SAMANTHA CHANEY
SWAMPSCOTT – Residents of Swampscott, Massachusetts are complaining after a series of explosions at a quarry shook their homes, with some saying it felt like an earthquake.
“Everything Shakes”
That happened around noon on Wednesday. Some residents described a loud noise echoing through the streets. Pat McBain, who lives nearby, said her entire house shook.
“Everything rumbled for a few seconds and then boom, everything shook,” McBain said. “It’s terrible.”
McBain said the rumbling felt like an earthquake. However, it was caused by explosions at a quarry owned by Aggragate Industries.
“It’s a way of life in Swampscott,” Jason Gardner said. “They used to do that several times a week, as far as I can remember, at least when we first moved here. And now it’s once or twice a week, if that.”
The quarry on Danvers Road has been in operation since the 1930s. However, residents said that while the blasts are infrequent, Wednesday’s blasts were worse than ever before.
“If you shake houses that much, you might be shaking the gas under the houses. So I was very concerned and called the fire department,” McBain said.
Why did the residents feel explosions?
A spokesperson for HOLCIM Group, the construction company’s owner, told WBZ-TV: “We are working in a different part of the quarry, which could be why residents were more sensitive to the recent explosions.”
According to Chief Graham Archer of the Swampscott Fire Department, “the blast was well within legal limits and was conducted with the proper permits and paperwork.”
